This invention is directed to small boats equipped with retractable undercarriages, suited for being towed behind a vehicle, and for use as watercraft.
Boats in a wide range of sizes are conventionally mounted upon a trailer, for land transportation. In addition to the costs of a trailer there are a number of drawbacks to this procedure. In the case of canoes and kayaks, these also may be carried in trailers, but are frequently mounted upon the roofs of vehicles.
In the case of small powerboats with inboard or outboard motors, fishing boats, sail boats and rowboats, these additional drawbacks include: the initial mounting of the boat to the trailer, which normally requires at least two people; securing the boat to the trailer; wading the trailer in order to disembark the boat; parking the vehicle/trailer combination during the use of the boat; and reversing these procedures at termination of use of the boat. The roof-mounting of canoes and kayaks frequently requires two persons, and necessitates securely lashing the craft to the vehicle.
Many attempts have been made in the past to provide retractable undercarriages, including retractable undercarriages for small boats. However, for a wide variety of reasons, none of these earlier attempts appear to have achieved commercial success, and a practical solution to this problem does not appear to be commercially available.
One difficulty that has to be overcome, particularly in the case of small boats having lightweight aluminum hulls, is the problem of attaching undercarriage components in such a fashion as to permit trailering of the boat without distorting or damaging the hull structure. In the case of canoes and kayaks, the nature of their structures, and their inherent flexibility make them unsuited to the addition of extraneous add-on structures.